Help US Complete Our Family

$3,550
of $4,000 goal

This is both very difficult and humbling to type. As many of you know Michael and I faced many challenges with getting pregnant with IVF. We have unique issues which made it very difficult to conceive through IVF. It took us over two years, three egg retrievals, 5 transfers, multiple surgeries for both of us, and a miscarriage before God gave us our angel. The emotional, physical and financial strain was a challenge but we kept fighting because we knew we would be great parents. Last month we transferred our very last embryo in hopes of completing our family. Sadly, this did not work. We are now faced with the challenge of starting all over again. It has been very hard to come to terms with facing this reality one more time. One of the suggestions our doctor made for us is to do genetic testing. What this procedure does is tests our embryos prior to freezing to see which ones are genetically normal and that would bring us a baby. Now while this may be controversial to some, it's doing what our bodies do normally, but in our case these things have to be done outside of our body. For example, a couple may have a genetically abnormal embryo, but the embryo would never implant and the couple would be none the wiser. But in our case we are very aware. So while the doctor may retrieve ten eggs, and five "look" good and freezes them for us to transfer, in reality only one or two will actually be healthy enough to make a child. The biggest difference is we will transfer each one, one at a time, praying that it is normal. Each transfer requires a month of medication, including shots, a procedure to transfer and of course a lot of emotional strain when it proves unsuccessful. With each unsuccessful cycle comes more waiting, more medication and more medical bills. With this test we could very well have success our very next try. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover this test. I'm asking people to find it in the heart to give anything they can to help us make our family complete. Knowing what the outcome will be I would do this 100 more times, but the thought of putting my little family through this physical and emotional pain for a matter of years is more than I can seem to handle. Everyone has said they wish there was something they could do, and this is our something. It is very, very hard for me to ask people for anything. I want to fight this battle, but even miracles need a hand. I also want to add that while this test does reveal the gender of the baby, Mike and I both agree that is not something we want to know. We want this test to give us the answer we need, will this embryo give us the missing piece to our family puzzle? That's it. God can decide the gender. We just want a happy and healthy family. Plain and simple.

I want to update everyone who has been following us on our journey. As you know with your generous contributions we were able to test our embryos and were blessed with 3 genetically perfect embryos to choose from. We were adamant that we not know the gender of the baby, so we let Gianna pick! She chose lucky number 2...what that means...only time will tell! We transfer that little embryo next Friday and will find out on her birthday if it worked. My only request is that you respect my decision to wait to reveal if it worked on my own time. After losing a baby it's very hard to share the news until all is 100% well. So stay patient and keep the prayers coming! Thank you all again for your amazing support along this roller coaster. You have made the ride incredibly smooth for all of us. #hope #dream #nevergiveup

In honor of national infertility week I am excited to share the exciting news of phase 2 of our journey. We had tremendous success with the retrieval of 17 eggs. About half of those eggs fertilized and made it to genetic testing. We received our results and we have three perfect embryos that we can transfer! (We can only do one at a time because of an issue I have with my uterus.) Our plan is to transfer one this summer when school is over. My doctor is very excited because we have never been in such a great position before. Ironically the embryos that are perfect are not the ones that appear perfect. Therefore, without all of your help and support we may have spent many months, perhaps years, transferring embryos that would have never brought us a baby. With your kindness and support we may be able to have success on our first attempt this summer since we now know which ones to transfer. I cannot express to you how grateful I am for all of your support. You all have put us in the best position to completing our family, and for that I am forever grateful. I will continue to keep you updated, and I appreciate you following us on this journey. I pray to have good news to share with everyone come fall of next year, and in the meantime I will continue to pay forward the kindness you all have shown to me. I thank God for blessing me with the most amazing people in my life!

Michael and I have met with the financial advisors at our fertility clinic and have discussed every possible scenario at length. The one that will most likely bring us the best results is to do two egg retrievals, one at the end of this month and one in June. An egg retrieval means I will take medication in the form of shots for a couple weeks. During this time the ovaries will develop multiple eggs rather than the one they normally do every month. At the end of the two weeks I will have surgery (retrieval) to remove the eggs. Our hope is to get as many as possible! Once we have done this twice we will transfer the embryo that comes back from the genetic testing as healthy. Hopefully, this will be the last time we will ever have to do this. I pray! So, with the help of our family and friends we have raised a little over half the total cost. We are beyond thankful for all of your help and support. If you saw me in person to thank you, you know I can hardly do it without crying. It means more to us than I can put into words. I want to update everyone because I feel you have invested time and money in our story and you deserve to know what is going on. I want to thank everyone again for being part of our dream. As much as I love my family at my fertility center, I hope that after this summer I will only be seeing them at the celebration of life picnics!